E3 2006: Nintendo Press Conference

Tuesday May 9, 2006
- 9:20 AM - CCC is live at the E3 Nintendo Press Conference
in Los Angeles, CA at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood.
We're waiting to see what's going on....should be exciting.

9:30 AM - We've
all got to turn our cellphones and other devices off.
Maybe they're going to show a movie....I hope it's Air
Bud 5!

9:35 AM - Shigeru
Miyamoto (Mario, Donkey Kong, Zelda creator) takes the
stage and is conducting an orchestra of video characters
onscreen playing the Zelda theme! Nice tux! He is using
the Wii controller (I call it the Wii-Mote) as a baton.

9:37 AM - Some
dudes playing an offroad game with the Wii controller.
Now he's swordfighting with it. Cool.

9:38 AM - Reggie
Filles-Aimes comes on stage. If all you want is next genration,
you're in the wrong place. What you'll see from Nintendo
is not just next.,..it's absolutely new. It's about the
feel. It's no longer confined to the few...it's for everyone.
It's not about what you see...it's about what you play.

9:45 AM - Reggie
has a couple of Q's for us. Do you know someone who has
never played a video game before? If we want to grow as
an industry, this has to change. Change begins here.

Reggie asks rhetorically: Why did Nintendo make
the system so different? How much is it? When is it
coming? What's the deal with the name?

[Reggie] "Our industry only accepts progress
only by what's on the screen.

How do we make games that feel entirely new all over
again? Everyone of you will FEEL our answer? As for
date and price it's in our best interest to keep that
secret for a little while, but you will be playing Wii
in the 4th Q of 2006. (mild applause)

We want to thank everyone who said good things about
it the day you heard it. Both of you. (laughter) Did
you laugh at Ikea? Google? Lexus?

Every new gamer is going to join us. It's a giant leap
for gaming."

9:50 AM -

Lots of games previewed via video:

Some dudes playing drums with the Wii-motes

Tennis

Golf

Baseball

Redsteel

Rayman

Wario Ware

Pilot Wings (??)

Super Mario Galaxy

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Excite-Truck

9:55 AM - The best Zelda game we've ever made,
it's also the most beautiful game we've ever made. Zelda
will launch with the Wii for the first time in Nintendo
history.

Nate and Bill play The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
(Wii version) live for the audience in attendance.

Movement on nunchuck. Fairy flying around the screen
designates what you can interact with. Incredibly interactive.
Aim the Wii-mote to a scarecrow and use the hookshot
to yank yourself there. Nunchuck has speaker in it which
allows you to hear the string of the bow being pulled.
Use the Wii-Mote to aim. Use it as a sword by slashing
(there are also buttons). Pushing the wii-mote ahead
of you can act as a shield push and will slam against
enemies. Extremely impressive. Spin the nunchuku around
and it will do spin slash. Use the wii-mote to cast
a line and fish with it in Zelda. Visually the game
looks great. A dungeon is demonstrated.

27 Wii games will be on the E3 show floor and the gaming
industry will be seeing even more on video.

10:06 AM- UbiSoft
shows off RedSteel. FPS action game set in US and Japan.
Violent shooter with good physics and lots of destruction.
Many different types of guns. Pistols, shotguns etc. You
can swing the controller to make NPC characters get down
on the floor if you want to arrest them. Redsteel also
features Katana fighting with the controller.

10: 13 AM - George Harrison VP takes the stage
to talk about DS. "Hardware and software disruption".
The DS launched at the end of 2004 and then the PSP
arrived. Once the early adopters cleared away, it all
became about the games. DS has sold 16 million units
to date. Nintendogs sold 6 million copies in 13 months.
1.3 million Wi-Fi users in less than half a year. 3
weeks ago the first Brain Game launched in Japan (sold
over 5 million in Japan). 120,000 units sold in North
America in 3 weeks. Reaching out to people who don't
feel comfortable playing games. DS Lite is coming in
a few weeks. New Mario game next week. Pokemon Blue
Mystery Dungeon (Red Mystery Dungeon on GBA). You play
as Pokemon and you speak with over 380 Pokemon! Yoshi,
Star Fox and Diddy Kong are coming to DS. Final Fantasy
III is coming to North America (we knew this). Tony
Hawk's Downhill Jam. Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.

100 new games between now and the end of the year.
Yoshi's Island 2, Elite Beat Agents, Diddy Kong Racing
- all shown.

10: 23 AM - NIntendo President Satora Iwata
takes the stage. Reinvent the relationship between player
and game. We believe this approach can appeal to a wider
audience. Core gamers always represent our most important
audience. The DS confused people, but they began to
understand when they talked to their dogs through the
microphone or walking their dog with the stylus. The
trend is spreading to the Western world of turning ordinary
people into gamers with games like Nintendogs, Brain
games etc.

Talks about loadtimes...says loadtimes are increasing.
Wii Connect 24 will allow the system to remain connected
to the Internet all the time, using just as much power
as a small lightbulb. Gamers (a friend of yours) will
be able to visit your world in Animal Crossing (used
as an example) while you're sleeping and leave you a
present, so that the experience is new everyday.

Wii Sports will be available on launch. Tennis, Baseball
etc.

10:33 AM - Reggie comes back on stage. We can
invite one person onstage. The first player in the world
with a competition with AOL. Shigeru Miyamoto will announce
the winner...via envelope... Shigeru demonstrates how
to play with the remote - Tennis game demonstrated.
Looks interesting but perhaps a little confusing. You'd
need a fairly large TV to make it work with 4 people,
I think.

Scott Dyer wins and gets to play the Wii first.

Iwata, Filles-Aimes, Dyer and Miyamoto play tennis
together.

10: 40 AM - Filles-Aimes
ends with these comments: What's hot is the FEEL of
the game, the look is secondary. It's hot if it's disruptive,
not if it's predictable. The heat of emotion, not the
chill of technology. We and the DS represent the same
thing - RISK. Risk means progress. Change is good. We
were the disrupter 20 years ago and we are again today.
Playing is believing.